1. text when you don’t want someone to hear you.

2. text to have a slow-paced, interruptable, but ongoing conversation throughout the day.

3. phone when inflection matters

4. phone if it takes more than 3 text pairs and you can assume they are in a place to take the call.

Please add yours.

(we can add other forms of communication later, because they are important also, but that widens it too much right now.)

First I’ll start with things I don’t like and leave you with the things I do:

The name. It does fall right in line with the current naming lameness movement but I still don’t like things defined by what they are not (e.g., postmodern, post-Christian, post-literate, post-rock, post-everything). I’m not against the ideas, just the names. That goes for Gen X, Gen Y, if Gen Z sticks, I’m leaving. I get the X, just like X-men, planet X, and the like, but Y is pure laziness, we’ll take Millenials, but I am off track. I just imagine the conversation. “So, who are you guys?” “Well, we’re not school, that’s for sure.” That’s helps a little, is maybe provocative, and certainly not out of norm, but I think it can be bettered.

About 3% of American children are home schooled, about 11% private schooled. That leaves 86% of children in public school, which is a lot.  We have to do something about these schools other than pull our kids out.  About 45% of households have 2 income earners. More than half of 0-6 year olds have regular care from a non-parent. These stats lead me to believe that significant changes would have to occur in the workforce for unschooling to be viable for most.

Of course, there is the assumption of parental involvement, which I think has to exist for unschooling to differ from uneducating. Honestly, many parents are not capable of providing the necessary guidance to their children. They need and want someone else to teach their children. 1 in 100 adults in in prison.  I think often these children are better off during the time away from their parents.  If one wants to change the workforce and parenting quality, I’m all for that, but it is not the case right now.

Perhaps being a small and often misunderstood minority creates a pressure to proselytize as validation, or perhaps the unschoolers who aren’t telling everyone about  the only best thing for children don’t pop up as much. I am thankful these parents are willing to try something for the sake of their children that many think is strange.  I also think this group is a good reminder to the piano-soccer-Spanish-Chinese-flashcard-for-3-year-olds parent that there are other ways to live.

There’s also the skepticism that sometimes falls into silliness.  The following for example: One person says homework is a disadvantage to the disadvantaged, those with rough home lives.  The unschooler response was that we shouldn’t assume a rough home life is a disadvantage because many successful people have come from such.  That’s right. Keep up the abuse and neglect, you may be producing the next Oprah Winfrey or a serial killer. It’s hard to tell, though odds are on the serial killer.

I speak purely as an outsider, so any unschoolers reading, please chime in.

Not wanting to “thrive on negative criticism,” now for the good part.

Unschooling to me is like communism – more beautiful in theory than practice and likely impossible on a large scale.

I love the idea of kids just continuing that wonderful toddler curiosity for the rest of their lives.  I do agree that we all learn best when we are voluntarily engaged. Those who know me well know I am not a fan of external authority. And it fits my parenting.  Almost daily Asante’s fearless adventures scare some adult. I almost got beat up by an old man one day because of my free range parenting.

I agree with unschooling’s critique on many of the arbitrarinesses of schooling, that life doesn’t come the way school does most the time. Unschooling is much about faith and trust in your children and about not trying to engineer them.  These aspects are great. Its heart is what many good schools also focus on: context, learning over teaching,  Sandra Dodd gives a nice intro that I think exemplifies many of the things I’ve written.

I imagine Tiffany and I’s children will be in public school predominantly, but I hope to alleviate some of the typical concerns with schooling through my professional and personal involvement in the system. Unschooling is a part of everyone’s life here and there, some more than others.  I hope to use it where I can, but our lives won’t allow for the full immersion.

Also, I think I’ve scored a personal record for highest number of links in one post. Most of them are interesting and will likely take you into wikipedia wonderland.

The first scans come from the 1984 Clifford’s Family. [click image to enlarge]

The next are from the 2009 Clifford to the Rescue. Notice the exact frames.

I imagine Henry could take this a notch further.

Ron Hall & Denver Moore with Lynn Vincent

As I started this book I first struggled to connect with the characters: one very wealthy, one very poor.  I was able to get through that. The book alternates between the two authors leading us their separate paths that eventual join together.

I appreciated the look into not only urban poverty and homelessness but perpetual rural poverty.  It made me think about some of my Kenyan friends who claimed all Americans are rich. Many of us forget running water is not ubiquitous even in the US.

I enjoyed the vernacular writing of Denver, who made me read his parts in the voice of my great-uncle Bob.  Deborah and family’s battle with cancer, told through her husband, will bring tears to any married man.There is so much this book touches, and I suppose that is because it is a story of lives.

Most importantly, it shows honest relationships among people and with God. The book reveals the love of God pouring through those who will let Him to actually alter the course of another person.  I am thankful for the sacrifices of those written about, such as Sister Bettie, selling her home and moving in to the shelter to care for the homeless.

This book gives me hope that relationships of radical love can open pockets of God’s kingdom on earth.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

I remember in Kenya having a hard time with some of the names and being annoyed at myself for remembering the “common” names easier (common to my personal history).  I imagine it is inevitable. I don’t know how to prevent that, besides trying to increase my kids’ exposure to many different.

I will continue to enjoy it while it lasts.

aside: it annoys me greatly when I hear teachers (it happens more than you would think) talk about students who have what the teachers consider weird names.

S and Z [click to enlarge}

• Circular saw
• power drill with small drill bit and screwdriver bit

Materials:

• 4″x3/4″ flat brace (a pack has four braces and 16 screws): 22

• 1″x12″x4′ boards (we used 4′ because we only have a car): 17 boards (68′)

The wood we got was pretty cheap and it shows. They work well enough for toy shelves.  The braces are pricey since we used so many but they have some great features.  They fit great with the size of would. They provide great strength for those odd shapes and make it very straight forward to keep everything squared.

The design is the only potential hangup really, so here are the sketches:

It worked well for me (not a hardened handyman) to warm up with i and o.

Numbers represent feet and the minus after some means to take off the width of your wood from the measurement (e.g., 3- for me was 2′11 1/4″).  This is so the tetris pieces will fit together.  It make the outside 1′ blocks.  Bascially, if the piece of wood is part of an inward corner it stays full length, and if it’s only to outward corners it loses one thickness-size (as you see below with s/z, j/l, & t).

By making the outside 1′, you can make waste minimal wood from 4′ (or 8′) boards. Once you have marked and cut the boards, set up the boards edgewise as shown. [Note: try to mix fulls and minuses on one board for better fit, e.g. 1', 1', 1-', 1-']

Pull out one of the braces, place it on a corner, and pencil the holes.

With a small bit, drill a hole for your screw (so the boards don’t split). Then screw the braces on.

Put a brace on each corner then flip the piece over and brace each corner on the other side.

L and J

Remember if you want to make the full set you will do l/j piece and the s/z piece twice.  Again, the full size pieces connect to inward corners (outside take off one thickness).

It’s all gravy from there. Mark, Cut, Drill, Screw. That’s basically it.

Another great thing about this design: Taking it apart and putting it back together is easy and should not weaken the structure. That means if you want to paint, repaint, or pack them to move, it will be easy, space-saving, and just like new when they are together again.

T

You can also enjoy a variety of arrangements to fit any room. Stack them tightly to save space. Stack them loosely for more shelf space. Stack them around other fixtures or separately around the room.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

the final product

from scanned post-it notes, made with

THIS IS WHERE YOU COME IN. I can’t possibly do this alone in a lifetime. I don’t know all the subjects. I haven’t unschooled or Montessori-ed.  So please add to this effort yourself AND spread this to everyone you know (especially those in diverse areas of education).

You can use the Google Doc without signing in if you want to save a little time.

or

You can use the Edistorm, which takes a short, free sign-in and looks like the below pdf.

Education Edistorm

Brahmagupta

I wrote this on post-it notes and created the animated gif using http://www.makeagif.com/

My Day

Also, today I had my first disater.

I though it would be fun to go to a playground so we did. Then Asante had to poop, which he started on our way to a restroom (which was not super close).  As I attended to him Aly stuck her hand in a urinal. As I wasked her hand, Asante informed me he had pied on himself and the floor.  As I went back to him, Aly stuck her other hand in the urinal. Eventually everyone was clean. But Asante was sans underwear since I did not pack him clean ones (though I did check before we left, but the ones in there were not clean).

And this is how I spent the evening while Tiff had a meeting:

and here is a short (1:33) video tour around our house.

"So I know if I can afford more stuff"

At first I thought it was a joke, but, sadly, I don’t think it is.

Who would think this is a good ad? I want to buy more stuff? Really?

Then I started to change my mind and thought, “Well, some people do just like to buy a lot of stuff.” Then I remembered I was reading Real Simple magazine. I am hoping Real Simple was thinking, “Sure Microsoft. We’ll take your money for an ironic full page ad that our simplifying readership can mock.” I think Microsoft was too busy with stuff to think about the audience.

I messed up the work on tax brackets. Her taxes on $45,410 would now be $6214, but her $52,440 would be taxed as $7962.50.

Here’s what I messed up: the first $11950 is taxed 10%, your money after that up to $45,500 is taxed 15%, and finally her remaining money is taxed at 25%.  This makes much better sense and changes the outcome significantly.

After 15 years (rather than 6) she will surpass her other tax contribution. If we pretend she starts her master’s program as late as 35 years old, she pays it off (tax-wise) by 50, then for 15 more years she is providing more taxes. $213,158 vs $186,420 or 2.73 times the amount she borrowed.

So, I apologize again.  You might be able to argue that 15 years is too long to wait.

Out of the Silent Planet

I’ve just finished reading through CS Lewis’s Space Trilogy. I enjoy science fiction and this was pretty enjoyable as well.  I particularly enjoyed the first two books featuring travels to Mars and Venus, respectively. 

Lewis does an interesting job of mixing mythology with science fiction.  He, of course, also has you thinking through his creations for their Christian expressions.

Perelandra

I did not enjoy the third book nearly as much, perhaps because I am not British, or perhaps because I was trying too hard to figure out what he was trying to say about our world, rather than the fantasy world.  The third book’s femininity theme perplexed me.  I welcome those who are into such studies to read it and let me know.

I’m glad I read the series.  If you only read one, read the second, Perelandra.

That Hideos Strength

I picked this book up from Columbia Public Library.  I kind of knew what I was getting into, but I thought the premise was interesting, so I grabbed it.  The idea is that all human beings are as suited for math and they are for language, as it is the same mental faculties that allow for each.  I liked that idea, but I couldn’t get through the book.  For me, it was too heavy on speculative evolution.  About half way through, I just started skimming, which I hate to do, but my checkout list is long and it didn’t keep me. 

I though linking language and math would be my kind of book, but my idea of humanity diverged too far from his to wade through so many chapters.